This Certainly Changes My Sunbathing Habits

But seriously, is there anyone on Staten Island who doesn’t understand what calamari is? I’m shocked:

When Jeanmarie Ritger’s 10-year-old daughter swims with friends in the family’s backyard pool in Dongan Hills, the children are captured on a video camera posted on a neighbor’s roof.

There is nothing Ms. Ritger can do about the unwanted surveillance of her yard, her life and her daughter, say officials.

That’s because the camera is not trained on her bedroom or bathroom window — places where New York law says a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and such surveillance would be illegal.

“I’m stuck and I’m very uncomfortable and I’m concerned,” Ms. Ritger, an elementary school teacher, said during a recent interview in her yard under the watchful eye of her neighbor’s camera. “When does surveilling someone’s property become an invasion of someone else’s privacy?”

Not when it’s in a homeowner’s back, side or front yard.

Ms. Ritger’s video-taping neighbors defended their rooftop camera, saying they are protecting their yard and in-ground pool, not spying. They accuse Ms. Ritger and her brother, who lives in the house next-door, of throwing worms, berries and calamari (squid) into their pool over the last few years. Ms. Ritger has flatly denied those claims, calling them “ridiculous.”

“It’s watching my yard and her yard,” the neighbor, Peter Malvagna, said of his camera. “It’s legal and I can’t get in trouble for it.”

. . .

William Smith, a spokesman for the Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan, said the Staten Island office was the first to win a felony conviction in the state under Stephanie’s Law. A retired firefighter was convicted here in 2004 of secretly recording his girlfriend’s teen-age daughter undressing in his home.

Before the enactment in 2003 of Stephanie’s Law, which was created after a Long Island woman was secretly recorded by her landlord undressing in her apartment, there were even fewer protections from prying eyes.

“In plain language, New York State law defines unlawful surveillance as recording someone, without their permission, at a place and time when a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, specifically a place where a person believes he or she could disrobe in privacy. This law has not been interpreted to cover the outside of a residence, especially in an urban or suburban environment like Staten Island,” said Smith.

As You Assumed, Life In A Fishbowl Is Stressful

The fish in the $750,000 tanks at the St. George Ferry Terminal are barely surviving in the stressful environment:

They’re the bright spot in the St. George Ferry Terminal, luring tourists and commuters alike to stop and admire their colorful beauty.

But brightness around the clock is exactly what’s killing off the fish in the two saltwater tanks in the terminal waiting room, as disturbed sleeping cycles stress the fish and make them more susceptible to disease.

“It’s like they’re driving with their brights on all day long,” said Wayde King, president of Acrylic Tank Manufacturing Inc., the Las Vegas-based company that installed the tanks.

Whether they were eaten by other fish or scooped out dead — or alive, removed from the tank and relocated after exhibiting aggression toward other fish — the population has dwindled to about 60 or 70 fish per tank, down from about 200 in each during the unveiling in February. The $750,000 tanks were funded through Borough President James Molinaro’s capital budget.

Curious kids and adults who bang on the tank walls also have disturbed the fish, who are unable to rest while being on display 24 hours a day in the busy transportation hub.

Furthermore, the constant light has caused a formidable algae bloom, leaving a brown film on the glass and the colorful coral inside.

. . .

Meanwhile, nearly a dozen members of SIcoLab’s Federation For Ferry Fish Freedom, a group of artists and musicians, banded together to fight for the rights of the fish with a “Fish-In” yesterday morning in the waiting room.

. . .

New railings are being considered to keep guests at a distance. And curtains are being designed to give the animals a restorative night cycle. “It darkens them up and lets them know it’s bedtime,” King said, adding the fish will be healthier if allowed a few hours of quiet.

And to tackle the algae, quarter-sized Turbo Snails will be introduced into the tank. “They’re like constant little scrubbers,” cleaning all the nooks and crannies of the tank and the coral reef inside, said Bob Kurtz, acting curator at the Staten Island Zoo, which will take over the maintenance of the tanks as planned in January.

Location Scout: St. George Ferry Terminal.

Bottom Line: Juries Just Don’t Like Hippies

Maybe keep that in mind during the next voir dire:

A former member of what is believed to be New York City’s only commune was found not guilty on Monday in the shooting of a co-founder of the commune.

The former member, Rebekah Johnson, 45, was acquitted by a jury in State Supreme Court on Staten Island of second-degree attempted murder in the shooting of the co-founder, Jeffrey Gross, 53. He had identified Ms. Johnson as the person who aimed a handgun at him as he returned from a movie on May 29, 2006, and shot him repeatedly. He also said she stepped over him after he fell to the ground.

The jury took less than five hours to clear Ms. Johnson, who had also been charged with assault and attempted grand larceny.

. . .

The Staten Island district attorney, Daniel M. Donovan Jr., issued a one-sentence statement that said, “While we respect the verdict of the jury, it is my belief that we presented a clear and compelling case which satisfied each element of the crimes for which Rebekah Johnson was indicted.”

Mr. Gross summarized his reaction in three words: “Stunned. Disbelief. Shock.”

“The evidence is overwhelming,” he said. “I was the eyewitness. She was 10 feet from me.”

He was shot on the stairway leading to his home, one of 10 buildings owned by the Ganas commune, a group that sanctions wife-swapping among its 100 members but moved to evict Ms. Johnson in 1996. He said she ambushed him.

“I said to the court, ‘I said to the jury, I immediately recognized it was Rebekah Johnson,'” he said in a telephone interview on Monday, after the verdict. “She had a gun pointed at me, I said, ‘Please don’t shoot,'” and he watched her pull the trigger. “I knew exactly who it was and I knew who it was as she climbed over me.”

Earlier: You Win Some, You Lose Some; Rebekah, Stop The Madness!; From Deranged Hippie Fugitive To Deranged Hippie Reject.

Come For The Ferry . . .

. . . stay for the Joni Mitchell trivia:

When the ferry docked at Staten Island, a wave of tourists funneled down the ramp and made a U-turn to board the same boat they had just gotten off.

Few seemed to have heard of anything worth sticking around for in New York City’s southernmost borough. Only a handful ventured over to the makeshift tourist kiosk at the ferry terminal.

“Yes, can you tell me where is Alcatraz?” one woman asked.

Andrew Yuen, 22, who was on duty at the kiosk, maintained a chipper demeanor in the face of such demoralizing questions. He cheerfully handed out maps and brochures, and directed a few people to the red faux trolley outside.

“There’s a tour bus that just opened three weeks ago,” he told one couple from England.

A man in a red vest picked up on Mr. Yuen’s cue and rushed to hand out a flier that begged, “Don’t hurry back on the ferry! New! Discover Staten Island Tour.” The salesman pointed to three small photos of unrecognizable tourist destinations and promised, “You’ll see this, this and this.”

The tour, Staten Island’s newest year-round attraction, is operated by Gray Line New York Sightseeing, which also runs bus tours of Manhattan and Brooklyn. In an hour, visitors get an overview of the island’s north shore. The $15 tour stops at places like the Snug Harbor Cultural Center; the house of Alice Austen, a pioneering photographer in the 19th century; and the Staten Island Zoo. Riders have the option of getting off at any of these places and catching the next trolley an hour later, but one tour guide said that most choose to stay in the bus.

“We’ll just wait to see the Bronx Zoo,” Karim Pacheco said.

. . .

What Staten Island may lack in breathtaking skyscrapers, it makes up for in historical tidbits, most of them involving celebrities. The tour drove by the cream-colored stucco building of the Mandolin Brothers guitar shop, which has been visited by the likes of Jimmy Buffett, George Harrison and Suzanne Vega.

“Joni Mitchell wrote a song called ‘Song for Sharon’ that starts, ‘I went to Staten Island, Sharon, to buy myself a mandolin,'” Ms. McGann said into the microphone.

After passing Wagner College, where Joan Baez’s father taught, the bus merged onto the Staten Island Expressway. Later, Ms. McGann pointed out the Stapleton station of the Staten Island Railway.

“That’s where Madonna filmed her music video for ‘Papa Don’t Preach,'” she said.

. . .

Gray Line declined to say how many people had taken the tour so far, saying it often takes up to five years before a new tour catches on. But the company is optimistic that the numbers will grow as Staten Island — once reputed for its enormous Fresh Kills landfill, which has closed — earns some credibility in the tour books.

“It’s a huge market,” said Eva Lee, Gray Line’s tour guide manager. “And they should be educated that Staten Island is important.”

Cue Christopher Meloni And Ice-T . . .

. . . who will then proceed to rough up the young punk, asking him What does he think this is, some kind of Norman Rockwell tableau? No sir, this is no game. Then they’ll take him into custody:

Time was, the pea shooter was a staple of the schoolboy arsenal. Classmates and teachers made tempting targets.

But yesterday, a developmentally disabled 10-year-old who let fly on a school bus was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors.

His alleged crime was shooting a fellow pupil, a 9-year-old, in the back of the neck with a bean.

The incident occurred at 7:16 a .m., as the bus was en route to PS 373, a District 75 school that teaches children with developmental challenges.

The driver, following standard procedure, stopped the Staten Island Bus vehicle on Sobel Court between Bowen and Targee streets in Clifton, and police and students’ parents were notified, said Carolyn Daly, a spokeswoman for the company.

The child who was hit was taken to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, with pain and swelling at the area of impact. He was treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

The 10-year-old was arrested at 7:54 a.m. and charged with assault in the third degree with intent to cause physical injury, and reckless endangerment in the second degree for using a pea shooter while on a bus, police said.

School officials declined to comment.

While some might question whether the punishment fits the crime, one veteran law enforcement source said the actions of the police seem justified.

“To cause an injury with a weapon is an assault,” the source noted. “And, I’ve actually heard of Emergency Service Unit cops being called in for kids younger than 10 for similar situations.”

Donk Donk!